A/N: Again, credit to Noniebee (4352183) for helping me brainstorm she's a huge help when I get stuck on an idea and need to flesh it out!

Kinu could barely breathe. If she had thought the situation in class had been hard, this was infinitely more so. Men had found her and tried to corral her through the alley system, and she had finally managed to escape when Takasugi had appeared, but not as she knew him. There was a glint in his eye, a certain flash of unhinged pleasure that twisted her insides and told her not to make herself known. The safest place for her was tucked behind a dumpster. Waiting everything out. She had seen him murder not one, but two people, in cold blood.

He had chased them down. Tricked the woman into dropping her guard. And then her head rolled by; stopping at the mouth of the alley. Kinu had gaped around the corner, and seen him kill a man that was already down. Could barely move. The finger man, if she remembered right. Now she was trapped; hands over her mouth, and trying not to make a sound. If she could just make it to the fire escape. Go up there, and hide until everybody left.

Takasugi was crazy. Legitimately terrifying, and insane. He was a killer. Not just out of self defense, but a real, bonafied murderer. Men, women, anybody, she didn't know. He paused at the mouth of the alley.

He couldn't know she was there. No. She hadn't made a single sound after that squeak, and that had been masked by the explosion. Pressing herself into the dumpster, Kinu squeezed her eyes shut. If she just didn't move. Didn't say anything. He'd leave. She should have called the Yorozuya for a ride the moment she'd noticed she was stranded. She should have told her mother where she was.

Should have called somebody. Anybody. A complete stranger, even, to let them know she was in danger, and needed a real adult. Kinu wished it had been cannibals.

The night went silent, and she remained as she was. Perfectly still, and pressed into the cool metal of the trash bin, too frightened to even breathe. Seconds turned to minutes, and Kinu didn't dare move. Just listened. Even the distant cries of a fight had worn away, until the night was deceptively normal. She grabbed onto her drone, and squeezed it against her chest as she peeked around the edge of the dumpster.

Nothing. Only the disembodied head of the woman that had tried to fight Takasugi. The coast was clear. He'd left. Finally releasing the breath that had been pent up inside of her since she'd seen him, Kinu eased to her unsteady feet, and turned towards where he had been in. He was gone. It was okay, she was safe. He wasn't going to get her, too. She'd run. Make it to the train station. Walking backwards, Kinu kept her eyes peeled for any sign of the monster.

It was okay.

She was fine. She was going to make it back. As Kinu took another step, she collided with a solid form behind her. Her blood ran cold and she halted mid motion, as a pair of arms encircled hers.

"Kittens should be more cautious of which alleys they stray into, hmm?"

Kinu hadn't even known she could scream so loudly. She whipped around and shoved away from the man, dropping her bot, and hitting the dirt beside it in a desperate attempt at getting away. He was grinning. As if it amused him to see her consumed by fear. She shuffled backwards over the ground, grabbing at her robot and pulling it with her as her feet managed to find solid purchase and she tore past the lone head in the breezeway, looking both ways.

Dead end, with bands of fresh dark blood dripping down the walls and splattered through the dirt where the man had been slaughtered. Turning left, Kinu darted down the walkway, blindly running. She couldn't hear him behind her. Didn't care if he decided not to chase her. All she wanted was to escape.

Silently cursing her heels, Kinu nearly tripped down another alley; one that was thankfully, free of dead bodies. She spotted a fire escape, and made a mad dash for it, but her waist was snagged, and her project hit the dirt again.

"Careful, someone might pick you up, and take you somewhere…" Her lips parted as the deep voice behind her met her ear with a puff of air. It was him. He'd gotten her. "The battlefield is no place for stray pets."

"Get away from me!" Pushing against his bleeding arm, Kinu tried to wiggle away. She elbowed him, twisting and shoving against his chest as her legs kicked. Takasugi stumbled back, and she slipped free of his grasp. The moment her feet hit the ground, she was at the fire escape, tripping up the stairs, in one last desperate attempt. Her ankle was seized before she reached the first landing, and she clung to the metal rails, kicking at the one eyed man as she tried to pull away. "No!"

He dragged her down a step, and her grasp on the rail dropped to the stairs. Kinu jabbed her heel into his side, clawing away from his grasp, but he returned, full force. Rougher. She was pushed back, and fell over the stairs as she gripped at the spokes of the handrails, then was hauled towards him. He wasn't even speaking. Just looked angry. Clearly, he wanted to kill her, too. Screaming bloody murder, Kinu turned over and slapped at his face and shoulders when she slipped down to the bottom stair. She shoved against his collarbone, trying to scoot back up, but he was unfazed.

Only turned his head, like a fucking terminator.

A knee forced its way between hers, and the other pinned her thigh into the cold metal under her. Her hands were gathered as she turned away.

"Please- I didn't see anything-"

"Then why are you screaming?" Takasugi's voice came harsher than she'd ever heard.

She didn't even know what she was saying anymore. Just that she was begging for him to let her go. She tried to kick him. Tried to knee him, and shake him off as she tugged at her hands but their positioning was wrong for it. Too close.

Her blows were little more than the gentle patter of a summer shower, when she needed a tsunami. With one hand over her wrists, the man pulled at the wrap over his eye. It unraveled, and as it came loose he wound it around her wrists. Despite her struggling, his knee stayed over her, moving from her thigh to her stomach as he painfully pressed her further into the stairs. He tied a knot over her wrists and yanked her up.

The moment Kinu's feet hit the ground, she tried to run, but she was scooped up. Pulled backwards and propped under his arm.

"No!" He didn't even look down at her. As he carried her back the way they had come, Kinu swiped at her bot. Barely managed to snag it and tuck it under her neck. "Where are you taking me!? Put me down!"

No answer.

Defeat washed over her as hung there, mind racing. Now what? He'd gotten her, and she hadn't been able to fight him off when she'd been free, so her chances weren't much better with her wrists bound. Kinu caught sight of the full extent of the carnage left in his wake. It was beyond horrifying. What was he going to do with her?

At least with cannibals, she knew where she stood.

She glanced up at Takasugi. At his closed left eye, and a single olive iris dug back into her. Kinu didn't want to look at him. What had happened? He had been so interesting, nice, and now he was the exact opposite.

Ahead of them, she saw the open hatch of a ship, and her struggle renewed the closer he brought her to it. Men were hoisting crates over their shoulders, and scraping them onto the deck, hard at work. As though it was a shipyard, and not the scene of a gruesome mass murder.

Two familiar forms came into sight, and Kinu stared up at them with wide eyes well aware that they would be no help to her plight.

"Erm… Shinsuke… What is that?"

Raising a brow to Kawakami, Takasugi looked at the girl over his hip.

"It's loot, isn't it? I'm gonna treat it like loot."

"That girl again?! What's she doing here?!" Matako motioned Kinu. She took a step forward, allowing a crate wielding man to pass her on the bridge to the ship. "Come on, I can't be the only one that thinks this is suspicious! The shipment, our hideout, and now this? Why are you here?!" The last question was directed at Kinu, and she lowered her gaze, holding her drone to her chest.

"The trains…"

"She wasn't with them." Takasugi answered Matako's real question, and started up the walkway, well aware of the looks he was on the receiving end of. His men were wondering if he was stealing women now. Sort of. Not really though, it hardly counted, even if she had slapped him a few good times and sank her claws into his forearms and chest.

It definitely looked like a brutal kidnapping.

The first thing Kinu learned about Takasugi after he hauled her onto his ship was that everybody answered to him. The men. The tall teal guy, pink woman, and weird balding man that had been waiting for them at the doorway. The second was that he wasn't the least bit sympathetic about tossing her into a jail cell, kicking and screaming, and locking her in. He didn't even speak to her.

The entire ship rumbled as he left her there, and she could feel the sinking sensation of an elevator ride in the pit of her stomach.

She'd half expected an evil monologue, something like "ha ha, I have deceived you and will now trade you into the black market; your gullibility was your down fall. Now, I Takasugi Shinsuke of the terrorist clan have prevailed, and you are at my wicked mercy". Extra points if he was trading her to cannibals for some God awful reason.

She sat on the metal floor, feeling the cold seep into her bones as she stared at the empty hallway in front of her, and warm golden glow of a light beyond the bars.

What now?

She was a trapped rat, just waiting for him to come back. Kinu thought of her cellphone. Of her box cutter, and the possibility of hiding until he returned. Maybe under the bed. She'd leap out and cut him, and he'd be so startled she'd be able to break away and find her way above deck.

In her dreams.

That man could have been an android for all she knew. What else was he doing in the shadows? Other atrocities she never could have fathomed and that she'd never be able to guess. He'd seemed so normal. Even the last time she'd seen him, they'd been having fun. Why was he like this now?

She'd thought they were friends.

Looking down at the busted robot she'd been holding onto, Kinu turned it over in her hands. It had attacked her teacher, right? Sort of… Maybe if she could fix it, it would do the same to him. Kinu pried the side panel off of the bot and stared at the mess of wires before her. She should have color coded and organized them.

What use was her cellphone? Even if she called for help, the ship felt as though it was moving. It had already taken off, and whether that was up or out to sea was beyond her. How could anybody help her if she didn't know where she was, not only on the earth, or in the sky?

The ground and walls shook again, and a short line of dust poured from the ceiling. What was going on up there?!

Reaching into her drone, Kinu tried to hold her left hand back as she examined the damage. It wasn't much. She could probably salvage it. Open the program panel and make it repeat that stabbing motion. She glanced up towards the doorway, and struggled to reach into her pocket. Felt the pages of her mini book against her fingers, then the stiff roll of tools behind it.

Friends didn't kidnap friends.

So what if she made a robot stab him? He had it coming. Trying to get a tool into her hand and keep her other hand out of the way was a lot harder than anticipated. Kinu tried to reach for her box cutter, but couldn't get her hands turned around enough to grip her buttons. She tried to bite at the knot on the other side of her wrists, but again, couldn't reach.

Hissing in frustration, the girl slammed her hands down in her lap. This was ridiculous! The dent in her drone was too deep to reach the sharp edge, and her tools weren't knives; that's what her box cutter was for!

Just as Kinu was going to start chewing through her arm like a coyote, a heavy door shut, and she jerked upright. Hearing the approaching footsteps, she threw her folded cloth of tools into her bot, and slapped the cover on it, as if she hadn't been trying to make a weapon of minor destruction.

Pulling the drone into her lap, she glared at the familiar form that stepped into sight, sans blood.

"Are you ready to calm down?"

Turning her head, Kinu hugged her drone to her stomach. Takasugi couldn't make her say a single word, she'd give him the longest, frostiest cold shoulder in the history of man. He wasn't who she'd thought he was. He was a wolf in… slightly wolf like clothing… posing as a semi harmless customer. Aside from that business deal.

And the guy in her cupboard.

Those were different though. He had a reason to do those things, this was pointless bloodlust. That woman had been trying to defend against him. Trying to get away with the finger guy.

Despite the way Kinu had been fighting against him, Takasugi hadn't actually hurt her, though. She'd scratched him, and hit him, and it showed. From his freshened appearance, Kinu had left her marks; the largest being a bright red scratch across his chest. A slightly darkened cheek.

"Nothing to say? And you were so vocal earlier, half the men thought I'd hauled a banshee on board. Imagine their surprise when they heard it was only a stray." The jingle of keys drew Kinu's attention. The one eyed man unlatched the cell door, and as it slid open, he leaned in the doorway. His dry humor wasn't swaying her. Nor was his ability to give her freedom.

She didn't care who he was, or how many people were following him. Hell, he could have been the shogun himself, and she wouldn't give a damn.

"If you behave yourself, I'll let you out. Supervised. Otherwise, you'll stay here." Glancing up at the man, Kinu tried to read his tone. It wasn't flat, or predatory, as she expected him to return. In her head that was likely with razor sharp teeth, glowing eyes, and a cartoonishly large toothpick to loosen the human flesh from his jowls.

He sounded as though he had all the control in the world and then some. Didn't even hold a grudge over how she'd fought back. "Come here."

Again, Kinu glanced towards him. If she got out of the cell, she had more chance of escaping than if she stayed there. The dark haired man didn't move as she raised to her feet, still clutching her project against her stomach. When Kinu reached his side, he watched her step out of the cell, but held no discernable expression.

Without warning, the cell door slammed shut, and Kinu nearly jumped out of her skin as she turned back. His olive eye stayed on her, but he passed and led the way.

"Are you satisfied, Bansai?" Leaning back onto his elbow, the one eyed man brought his cup of sake with him. They had finally gotten that meal he hadn't been able to shut up about. With Takechi preparing arrangements for another base in the city, he had left as soon as his meal was finished.

"I'd like to say so." The deaf man lowered his empty bowl of rice, and set his chopsticks across it. "But I dare say your loot is harboring murderous intent."

Chuckling, Takasugi sipped his drink.

"You know how cats are. Miss one feeding and they're looking for the next best alley with a dumpster."

Kinu's eyes flicked to him, narrowed and seething.

"I still don't think this is a coincidence." Matako chimed in, shifting her legs under her. She'd eaten in near silence, which in itself was unlike her, only pausing to scowl at the girl that wasn't supposed to be there. "This is a completely different side of town. She had to plan this."

"How? We didn't even know we were going until we left. Nobody else knew, either." Kawakami refilled Takasugi's bowl of sake, and lifted his own.

"I don't know, but that's the only thing that makes sense!" Placing her bowl on the table, the woman offered a sympathetic wince as she met Takasugi's eye. "And she attacked you. Shinsuke-sama your chest, and..."

"Have you ever tried to catch one of these things in the wild?" Takasugi glanced up at Kinu. She wasn't even trying to defend herself. His pointer finger pressed into the oblong metal ball in her lap, and he turned it, examining the unlit display screen. It was dented, and scraped to hell. "Where's that fancy tech school with the mechanics program?"

Kinu shifted away from him and turned her head. She didn't speak. Didn't even hum. It may have been for the better, because Takasugi assumed anything from her would have meant fuck off.

"Tech school?" Matako echoed. "It's the middle of the night! Even if-"

"Matako-chan, I believe I saw her on the bridge before we started. It appeared to be a pregnant woman, but now, I think it was that." Kawakami motioned to the drone. He filled the woman's cup, and held his own towards her, patiently waiting for her to return the gesture. When she did, she was still eyeing the silent girl.

"This is your school uniform, isn't it?"

The edge of Kinu's skirt was tugged as Takasugi spoke and she shifted again. She really didn't want anything to do with him now. Sure he might have scared her a little, but that wasn't entirely his fault. He'd hardly done anything. Hell, he'd even tied her hands in front of her, instead of behind her back.

That deserved some gratitude.

"So what are we doing with her? She's seen too much, right?" Matako's next question brought a curl to the edge of Takasugi's lips. That's what she'd like to hear, but he had other plans. Kinu had seen the perfect amount. And she wasn't fooling him. She was terrified. He saw her move, ever so slightly, as if it would assist in hearing his answer.

"I suppose she expects me to take her to the vet… put 'er down." Takasugi pushed himself up, examining the bowls of untouched food in front of the girl. His palm flattened on the tatami between them, and he leaned towards Kinu, amused by the raise of her shoulder, and the way she ducked her head. "Maybe to say that I eat careless little kittens like her for breakfast."

The girl didn't move. She kept her vow of silence, devoid of a shred of emotion or expression.

"Or something worse..? Hmm?"

Kinu looked down at the barely there tug of her skirt. At the way Takasugi pinched the fabric between his thumb and forefinger again, and ground it between them, as if wearing it away.

"Maybe if she used that voice of hers, I'd consider whatever she had to say for herself." There was a pause, in which the members of the Kiheitai focused on the mute, granting the floor to anything she had to say. They got nothing.

While it would have been more common to toss a prisoner back into their cell, Kinu found herself sitting on the floor of an overly traditional bedroom, complete with tatami, multiple compact cupboards, and a small, empty alcove. She assumed it to be Takasugi's room.

Especially when he walked to the cabinets and reached into it. He returned to her side, one hand stretched towards her, palm up. Though Kinu had been trying not to look at him directly, she instinctively met his eye, then his open palm, unsure of what he wanted.

"Give me your hand."

Was it a poison or some kind of special venom or weapon he wanted to test? He'd kept her alive to experiment on her? That made sense. More sense than him taking her for no reason.

It wasn't like she had a chance to call for help. If the ship was doing as she expected, they were in the middle of the ocean right now. Or worse, the air. Nobody could get to her.

The girl raised her arms, and placed her hands in his. He took hold of her, turning her crossed wrists over, then something clamped down on her left hand. Pinched and pierced her palm.

Kinu cringed, and jerked away, but her instinct to cradle the area went unmet. A metallic, spiked gun was propped over Takasugi's knee as he tilted his head, and Kinu looked at the splotch of blood pooling in her palm.

"I like to keep track of my pets." The quiet of the room barely receded to make way for his voice.

Realization dawned on Kinu and her brow furrowed. Before she could organize her thoughts, he drew her hand to his mouth, and the warmth of his tongue swept over the offending injury, prodding, and stinging. Not as offensive as it should have been, but his words took a life of their own as Kinu met his eye, and the corner of his mouth raised against her skin.

A chip. He'd chipped her. Like an actual cat. Since when had she become his property? It had just been harmless flirting, nothing serious! He'd said no! She wasn't going to do it again, why was he tracking her? He was gay; he'd told her that he was gay, and she accepted it, but having his tongue on her skin made her feel otherwise.

And why wasn't he killing her?

He could have. Could have left her body there, and none would have been the wiser. Hell, he could have let her go, to return home safely.

Dropping her wrist, Takasugi took a seat on the edge of the bed and flashed the same wolfish smile she'd seen in the alley.

She'd never seen him without the wraps. Kinu glanced at him from the corners of her eyes, and the man tapped his canines against the mouthpiece of his pipe.

"You seem to have exceptionally unfortunate timing." Still silent. Slowly drawing a lungful of smoke, the man leaned onto his knee. It was cute. She'd been so forward before. Outspoken, even. Now she was pouting to get back at him for scaring her. He knew she hadn't been hurt; he'd been careful of her despite what she may have thought. "I wonder… What game are we playing tonight?"

"The one where you stay over there and don't touch me." Her voice, low as it was, nearly surprised him. There was a spark in his eye, as if finally responding had given him something she hadn't intended. Something that energized him, and made him hungrier for another reaction. Showed him that he could get one.

Kinu could see it plain as day, Takasugi enjoyed finally earning her acknowledgement. He had to know it wasn't like before. Nothing was the same, they weren't friends. It was bittersweet, but they couldn't be anymore.

But maybe this meant that they were. He'd brought her to his room and wanted to hang out with her. That was sort of friendly. And he wanted to know where she was if she roamed off again. Independent of him.

Maybe that confirmed her safety, in an odd way that she couldn't quite place, and made his actions seem far more innocent than she had suspected. But ominous. He'd be watching her. But she was practically free already. Wasn't she?

"You're awful. I can't believe I trusted you…"

A cloud sprung from the man's lips, and he averted his gaze.

"Clearly you don't understand the extent of the situation you're in right now."

"I don't care! You lied to me!" Sneering back, Kinu tightened her arms around her drone. Takasugi lazily leaned back onto his palm, brow raised.

"When?"

What? That was… he knew when! She didn't have to have specifics! What did he want, dates and exact times?

"Uh… Well… I don't know, but you did!"

A short, odd laugh escaped the man, and he motioned towards her with his pipe before bringing it to his mouth.

"That sounds like something I would do. But I don't recall anything like that."

Neither did she, actually. Had he lied to her? What was the lie about, if he had? Now that she thought about it, she didn't think he'd done anything to hint that he wasn't like what she'd seen. And he had been threatening to cut off a finger like a criminal, and trading guns in her shop…

"But you kidnapped me!"

"Relax, it was only once. No big deal."

"No big deal?!" She echoed the words back at him, hardly able to believe what she was hearing.

"What, would you have preferred to stay there? Until more men came?" More? More were coming?

"Well… no… But you attacked me!"

"No, you attacked me. I didn't hurt you in the slightest." Well, he had her there. She definitely had attacked him. But he'd scared her! Who the hell chases innocent women in the middle of the night if they're not intending to do bad things?! "You injured me, and now you're being difficult. What a horrible pet." Grinning the one eyed man placed a hand to his side. "Unlike you, I need my liver."

"I'm not your pet!"

"No?" In the blink of an eye, Takasugi was in front of her. His fingers plucked at the topmost button of her shirt, and she leaned back, sucking in a breath as she turned her head. "Would you rather be a toy?" The drone was batted from her lap, and haphazardly rolled off to some unknown corner of the room. Takasugi pulled at the knot over her wrists, releasing her from her gauzy prison. As Kinu rubbed at her freed skin, he placed a hand on the tatami beside her.

"Something for me to use however…" The fabric of her skirt dragged up her thigh, followed by two firm fingertips. "whenever I see fit?" Heart pounding, Kinu stared down at the hand on her leg.

Why was she excited?! He was a murderer! He'd kidnapped her! She was scared of him, why the hell was she reacting to it!?

"I-" Words weren't working. She what? Didn't want him to touch her? Thought he was the worst person in the world, and wanted him to leave her alone forever?

"If that's the case, we can do this right here… Bend over." A finger hooked under the band of her underwear, and her palm cracked across his cheek without a second thought.

"Fuck you." Kinu glared at the side of his face as he felt at the offending cheek. "If you're going to kill me, do it already."

A low snicker rumbled through the man as he met her gaze, for more delighted than he had a right to be. She expected some sort of retort, or a vaguely threatening, assholish response. Instead, he left her space, feeling at his cheek.

"Again with the hitting? People take pets like you to the pound every day."

"I'll bite you next." He wasn't being scary at all.

"Sounds like an invitation if I've ever heard one." He was being normal. Like she wasn't a hostage and he just wanted to play with her again, what an asshole! Pursing her lips, she turned her head. That wasn't going to work. She didn't want to laugh. "Where? The arm? Leg? Or is it to satiate your eternal thirst for the living? Explains why you didn't eat; you were sizing up my jugular, weren't you? Naughty girl." A small snerk broke through the girl's frost wall, and she covered her mouth. The same hand that had resumed her assault batted towards him. "Or was it my brain?"

"Shut up!" Kinu pounced on him, hitting, but far lighter this time. Laughing. Takasugi raised his forearm, blocking the flurry of blows as he leaned up, onto his elbow. "I'm really mad at you right now! You kidnapped me! Creep!" For once she was actually speaking. Raising her voice, even. Her palms slapped into his shoulders, and his arm again. "And I'm not undead!"

"Good lord, it's vicious. If only I'd equipped a clove of garlic-"

"You're not funny!" She declared, and as she pulled her hand back, he seized the opportunity to grab her. Sat up. His nose brushed hers as he tilted his head and a hush reclaimed the room. The plum fabric of his yukata bunched under her fists as he moved, forcing her from his stomach to his lap.

"It's almost like it knows I have no intention of harming it."